Helpful home products to soften the blow of Tax Day

Published 4:00 pm, Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Have you had to spend money on April 15 that you didn’t want to? Does the idea of saving some hard-earned cash for your home sound better? Let’s start from the floor and go up!

Wood floors are everywhere now, popular and very expensive. Dirt and dust are the worst enemies of wood floors so make sure that you keep them clean. Bona makes a cleaning system I love called Hardwood Floor Mop. It comes complete with a cleaner and mop head and it is a simple squirt and mop. No rinsing, it is one step and retails for under $32.

Now if you have older floors before you even think about refinishing them, try what I used on my old parquet floors, Quick Shine Floor Finish. Quick Shine Floor Finish provides an immediate shine to floors whether they are wood, laminate, tile or vinyl. Quick Shine brings out the color in Saltillo tile and can also be used on stained concrete. Quick Shine is NOT a wax; it’s a polymer finish that you never strip off. When the floor is not as shiny as you like, just apply another coat or two on the floor. Quick Shine retails for $12.99.

If you have laminate counter tops and putting granite down is completely out of the question, then paint them, so they look like granite. Gianni Granite makes a paint that looks like granite and if you think you have to be an artist to apply it you are wrong! Gianni comes in several colors, sand, black, slate, brown and white diamond. They just came out with a new product for cabinets called Nuvo Cabinet Paint. For under $200 and a couple of weekends, you can redo the kitchen.

If you see cracks in the walls and ceilings that you fix and then fix again, then this time fix them with Good-Bye Cracks. Good-Bye Cracks is a spray that gives you flexibility so that crack will not open up again. Fill the crack with spackle; let dry, spray with the Good-Bye Cracks. Spray three light coats of the Good-Bye Cracks letting dry between coats, and then paint. Use a paint that has flexibility like Coronado and you give yourself some wiggle room. Good-Bye Cracks retails for under $7. Hope these products soften the blow for you on Tax Day.

Now to the email …

Question: I want to attach some house numbers to our brick, and I don’t want to have to drill into the brick. Is there an adhesive that I can use myself that would stick to the brick and the metal numbers?

Answer: F-26 is a construction adhesive that sticks to brick, wood, stucco and has a high tact. Clean the area where you are attaching the numbers. Put the F-26 on the back of the numbers and then stick them to the brick. It’s perfect for what you are doing. F-26 comes in a squeeze tube and retails for under $4.

Question: The refrigerator that we keep in the garage does a good job of keeping sodas cold. But it’s getting rusty in some areas and before that gets bad I want to know if I can fix it or not. Thanks for the help.

Answer: Just spray the rusty areas with Rust Cure, wipe off the oily residue in an hour and let cure for seven days. The refrigerator will not rust in those areas again. You can paint right over the rust cure with an appliance paint.

Question: I always use the back entrance to my house. The other day I looked at my front door and it looked terrible. It’s dry looking, and the stain has faded. Tell me I can take care of this on my own.

Answer: First use the Restore A Finish in the color of the door. Wipe on the Restore A Finish with a T-shirt rag, and let dry. Then using another rag and apply the SunWax. It’s the sister product of Feed and Wax and will give your door protection from the sun, and heat. This project gives immediate good results.

If you cannot find the products mentioned here locally, you can find them at www.happyhandyman.com. Click on Shop Johnnie’s Favorites, or call the store at 210-341-1573. Email Trudy Chuoke Lesage at happyhandyman2@yahoo.com. Mail can be sent to Johnnie Chuoke’s Home and Hardware, 2361 NW Military, San Antonio, TX 78231.